Combined Honours
The Contemporary Studies Program (CSP) offers a Combined Honours BA or BSc program offered jointly by Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College. The other honours subject must be selected from the following list of Dalhousie departments and programs:
In Arts: Canadian Studies; Cinema and Media Studies; Classics; Creative Writing; English; French; Gender and Women's Studies; German; History; International Development Studies; Italian; Law, Justice, and Society; Music; Philosophy; Political Science; Religious Studies; Russian; Sociology and Social Anthropology; Spanish; and Theatre.
In Science: Atmospheric Science, Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Economics, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Microbiology and Immunology, Neuroscience, Physics, Psychology, and Statistics. Contemporary Studies can also be taken in combination with Environment, Sustainability and Society.
Electives may be taken in any of the above-mentioned departments and programs, as well as in the following programs: Early Modern Studies, and History of Science and Technology.
All students must meet the general requirements for their degree type as detailed in the Degree Requirements section of this calendar. Students who are eligible to take an honours degree are urged to apply to the Contemporary Studies Program. Because it is an honours program, the quality of work required is higher than that required in a 90 credit hour minor or 120 credit hour major program.
Applications for admission must be made to the Dalhousie department concerned and to the Contemporary Studies Office at King’s on forms available from the Registrar at either Dalhousie or King’s. Students normally enroll in CTMP 2001.03 & CTMP 2002.03 (the first "core" course) in their second year, and apply for the Combined Honours program in either second or third year. For each individual student the entire degree program, including elective courses, is subject to supervision and approval by the Dalhousie department concerned and by the Director of Contemporary Studies.
All Contemporary Studies Program students are encouraged to acquire competence in languages through appropriate courses which are relevant to their degree, interests, and future plans.
The joint Dalhousie/King’s Contemporary Studies program is based on the general requirement that the 120 credit hours required to graduate include:
- Completion of either the King’s Foundation Year Program or at least 12 credit hours of first year courses at Dalhousie:
- A minimum of 66 and a maximum of 84 credit hours beyond the 1000-level in the two honours subjects, but not more than 48 nor fewer than 30 credit hours being in either of them.
- The three "core" course doublets in Contemporary Studies: CTMP 2001.03& CTMP 2002.03 (or CTMP 2000.06), CTMP 3001.03 & CTMP 3002.03 (or CTMP 3000.06), CTMP 4001.03 & CTMP 4002.03 (or CTMP 4000.06).
- Students can elect to take one 3-credit hour approved selective course from other Arts & Social Sciences departments towards the CSP program. The approved list of selectives is:
- At the conclusion of an honours program a student’s record must show a grade which is additional to the grades taken to complete the required 120 credit hours. In a combined honours program, students usually obtain this grade in their primary subject (in which they have completed more credits); permission may be required from the primary subject advisor if a student wishes to obtain the grade in the secondary subject. Students fulfilling this requirement in Contemporary Studies submit a research paper and defend it at an oral examination. They must enrol in the non-credit CTMP 0456.00 & CTMP 0457.00, the Honours Thesis Seminar.
Please Note:
Students may take an Independent Readings course only when they reach their third or fourth year. The permission of a member of the teaching staff and the Director is necessary in order to take these courses, and their availability is strictly limited.